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In
2012, the Mahalaya falls on 15th October.
Mahalaya ushers in the aura of Durga Puja. The countdown for the Durga Puja begins much earlier, from the day of 'Ulto Rath'. It is only from the day of Mahalaya that the preparations for the Durga Puja reaches the final stage. Mahalaya is an auspicious occasion observed seven days before the Durga Puja, and heralds the advent of Durga,
the goddess of supreme power. It's a kind of invocation or invitation
to the mother goddess to descend on earth. This is done through the
chanting of mantras. The day is being observed as Mahalaya, the day of invocation. |
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Mahalaya
in Bengal : In
the dark night of amavasya (new moon), people pray to Goddess
Durga to arrive in the earth to ward off all evils. On this
auspicious day, people pray for the deceased relatives and take
holy dip in the river Ganga
- the act being called Tarpan. On the dawn of Mahalaya, homes
in Bengal resonate with the immortal verses of the Chandipath
(chanting from "Chandi"). Chanting of the hymns from the holy
book of "Chandi" in the recorded voice of late Birendra
Krishna Bhadra over radio has become synonymous to the real
Chandipath.
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The Chandipath is aired by All India Radio in the programme Mahisasura Mardini, narrating the incarnation of Goddess Durga and her fight with Mahishasura. Since the early 1930s, Mahalaya
has come to associate itself with an early morning radio program called
"Mahishasura Mardini" (the annihilator of the demon Mahishasura). This
All India Radio (AIR) program is a beautiful audio montage of recitation
from the scriptural verses of "Chandi", Bengali devotional songs,
classical music and a dash of acoustic melodrama. The program has also
been translated into Hindi set to similar orchestration and is broadcast
at the same time for a pan-Indian audience. For nearly six decades now,
the whole of Bengal rises up in the chilly pre dawn hours, 4 am to be
precise, of the Mahalaya day to tune in to the "Mahishasura Mardini" broadcast. |
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Chandipath
narrates that She is the primeval source of power, all qualities reside
in her. She is one and yet known by many names. She is Narayani,
Brahmani, Maheshwari, Shivaduti and She is the fierceful Chamunda,
decked with a garland of skulls. The Goddess Chandika is eternal. She
has no birth, no definite physical form. She assumes a manifestation of
majestic might only to restore the process of Creation from the terrible
Asuras or evil incarnates. Mahisasura, the terrible king of the Asuras
had defeated the gods and driven them out of Heaven. |
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The
gods, dejected and humiliated, went to Brahma, the god of creation
Vishnu, the God of preservation
and Mahadeva, the God of destruction, to report their defeat.
These three Gods projected their energy and evoked a new form
of energy. This energy then crystallised into the heavenly form
of a Goddess. She was Mahamaya, the Mother of the Universe.
The emergence of the goddess was an auspicious moment. The Goddess
then emerged in full battle array to combat Mahisasura. The
Himalayas gifted Her the lion to act as her carrier, Vishnu
gave her the Chakra , Mahadeva gave her the trident, Yama gave
her the danda, Brahma gave her the rosary and the container
of sacred water. Armed with weapons of all kinds, the Mother
Goddess defeated the Asuras, thus ending the rule of evil forces.
The occasion of Mahalaya, thus, always goes on reminding mankind
of the divine scheme of things that the Evil may have had its
say, but it is ultimately the Good that has the last laugh. |
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The explanation of Amavasya Mahalaya :
Amavasya,
or the day of the conjunction of the sun and the moon, occurs
once every month and it is a day considered by the Hindus to
be specially set apart for the offering of oblations and the
performance of religious ceremonies to the Pitris or the spirits
of the departed ancestors. Such being the general beliefs, what
is the reason for the Hindus paying greater attention to the
Mahalaya Amavasya, or the new moon day of the month of
Kanya when the sun is in the sign Virgo ?
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The Itihasa, a great authority on the religious rites of the Hindus,
says that the moment the sun enters the sign Virgo (Kanya) the departed
spirits, leaving their abode in the world of Yama, the Destroyer, come
down to the world of man and occupy the houses of their descendants in
this world or as it is said in Sanskrit, Kanya yate surye pitaras
tishtanti sve grihe. Therefore the fortnight preceding the new moon of
the month of Kanya is considered as the fortnight which is
specially sacred to the propitiation of the Manes or departed
spirits. Dine dine gaya tulyam - The ceremonies in honour of the Manes performed during each day of this fortnight are considered to be equal to
the ceremonies performed in the sacred city of Gaya. |
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But instead of
performing these rites on each of the days of the fortnight, most Hindus
do so only on one of the days. Orthodox Hindus, however, perform
ceremonies on every one of the days of this fortnight. These ceremonies
terminate on the Mahalaya Amavasya day, which is therefore observed with
greater sanctity than other new moon days. If, through unavoidable causes,
any Hindu is not able to perform his Mahalaya rites during the course of
the fortnight preceding the Mahalaya Amavasya, he is allowed as a
concession to perform the same in the fortnight succeeding this new moon,
because it is said that the Manes continue to linger in his house,
expecting him to perform the ceremonies, till the sun enters the sign
Scorpio (Vrishchika), i.e. till about the next full moon day. If even by
that time a Hindu has not performed these ceremonies to the Manes they are
said to become disgusted with him and return to the world of Yama after
cursing their descendants in this world.
Vrishchika darshanat yanti
nirasa pitaro gatah. |
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Such is the belief about the Mahalaya Amavasya and the two lunar fortnights
which precede and succeed it. The month of Kanya (i.e., the month of the astrological symbol 'virgo'), or, in other words, the Hindu month of 'Ashwina', is, thus,
reserved for the worship of departed spirits and the most propitious
portion of the month for such worship is the fortnight preceding the
Mahalaya Amavasya. Generally speaking, every Hindu strictly observes his
Mahalaya. If he is careless about it, he will find it difficult to have a
peaceful time with the old ladies in his house. |
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